Texans’ Graham knows job as kicker has to be earned every game

After his first practice as the only Texans kicker Monday, Shayne Graham was taking nothing for granted.

Rookie Randy Bullock was placed on injured reserve because of a torn groin muscle, but Graham didn’t feel secure with Thursday’s final preseason game against the Minnesota Vikings remaining.

“I don’t have any sense of relief, because I’ve still got to prove myself to my coaches, teammates and everyone else,” Graham said. “I don’t have anything handed to me. I’ve still got to earn everything I have here.
“There’s another preseason game, and then every week during the regular season, you’ve still got to earn your job. My goal is long-term, and that’s to perform well and help this team win.”

Graham, 34, and his coach, special-teams coordinator Joe Marciano, are on the same page.

“He’s done extremely well here,” Marciano said. “He’s been better than we thought he would be, and I’m glad we’ve got him.

“But we’ve got one more game to evaluate him. If he does well, he’ll undoubtedly be our kicker. Hopefully, he won’t kick off out of bounds or miss three field goals, because there are some other kickers out there.”
Such as the kicker Graham replaced, Neil Rackers, who was put on waivers Monday by Washington after scoring a Texans-record 137 points last season.

“Shayne has good experience, and he’s kicked in big games,” Marciano said. “But we don’t want history to repeat itself. It’s his opportunity to erase that so-called stigma.”

Graham has been in 13 training camps since his rookie year of 2000. The Texans are his seventh team since the start of 2010.

“Maybe I’ve given a perception of myself as kind of a journeyman, and I want to get rid of that and settle down and be part of something I can be proud of (and that my) coaches and teammates can be proud of,” Graham said. “Hopefully, I’ll do that with my chance here, but I’ve still got a lot to prove.

Physically fit
“My leg is as strong as its ever been. I feel like I’ve been doing well, but you never want to see something bad happen to someone else.

“Randy and I became close during this time. I talked to him (Sunday) night and tried to give him some advice to keep his head up and stay positive and not look at the small picture but the long-term picture and make himself right for when he is healthy.”

The Texans hope to get the Shayne Graham who kicked for Cincinnati from 2003-2009, except for his last game. In a playoff loss to the New York Jets, he missed 35- and 28-yard field goals in a 10-point loss.
Between 2003 and 2007, Graham averaged 121 points per season. He made the Pro Bowl in 2005, when he scored a career-high 131.

“I had a bad game, and I’ve moved on,” Graham said. “From that point on, there was a stigma that I couldn’t make kicks in playoff games.

“Well, the year after that, I was 100 percent for New England. We didn’t lose any (regular-season) games while I was there, and we were in the playoffs, and we had a tight game with the Jets, and I made two field goals in that game.”

In the eight games in which he replaced the injured Steven Gostkowski, Graham was 12-of-12 on field goals. He was perfect on both attempts in the playoff loss to the Jets.

Little security
Then Graham was waived again.

“It just goes to show what the reality is and that anything can happen,” he said. “There’s no reason to ever get secure, whether you’re told you’re the rostered kicker or you sign a multimillion-dollar deal. It doesn’t matter, (because) you can still be let go at any time.”
john.mcclain@chron.com
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